And while many members of the Denver media have been fawning over the character and potential stardom of Tebow, Reilly took the opposite approach, saying the former Florida star hasn’t demonstrated the ability to be an NFL quarterback.

Reilly also took on his pal John Elway, a strong Tebow cheerleader. Reilly wants to bet a dinner (at Elway’s, naturally) that Tebow won’t make it in the NFL as a quarterback.

Actually, Reilly has been much harsher in print than on the broadcast, regarding his feelings about Tebow and his good guy reputation.

Radio lines.

Lacrosse fans can find a local weekly show at 5 p.m. Sundays on KTNI 101 FM.

Hosted by series creator Dan Matthews, the two hours have featured major local and national figures, including University of Denver men’s coach Bill Tierney.

Ratings roulette.

Overnight audience ratings show that Versus delivered its largest cable audience of the hockey season with Friday’s coverage of the Flyers’ dramatic win over the Bruins. The Boston team became only the third in NHL history to lose a playoff series after winning the first three games.

Around the dials.

Ken Burns is producing an updated, two-night, four-hour documentary for the fall — a follow-up to his superb “Baseball,” which aired in 1994.

The project, dealing extensively with the steroids era, again will air on public television.

• ESPN reporter Erin Andrews may be dancing her way to major stardom if she wins this week’s final competition on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Everyone at the network is attempting to project her future, which could include a weekly studio dancing show with Chris Berman and Jon Gruden.

• USC coach Lane Kiffin, the current bad boy of college football, will be interviewed on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

• Dan Patrick makes his debut as a hockey studio host during NBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals.

• According to Sports Media Watch, Denver native Jim Gray, formerly on NBC and ESPN-ABC, has signed on as a sideline announcer for some home games of the Sacramento Kings.

Cavs-Celtics drew interest.

Thursday night’s Celtics-Cavaliers sixth game, viewed in more than 6.5 million households, was the second-most watched NBA contest ever on ESPN.

First place: Game 4 of last year’s Western Conference finals between the Lakers and Nuggets, seen in more than 6.7 million homes.

Longtime Denver journalist Dusty Saunders writes about sports media each Monday in The Denver Post. Reach him at tvtime@comcast.net.

Cable killing network baseball coverage

Veteran baseball fans can recall when the Saturday “Game of the Week” was a big deal on network television, with announcers Pee Wee Reese, Dizzy Dean, Joe Garagiola and Vin Scully dominating the weekly broadcasts.

That was B.C.: before cable.

Fox Broadcasting, with its weekly series, remains baseball’s last national network bastion. And audience ratings are declining annually.

Viewership so far this year is down 14 percent from 2009.

Even coverage of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry can’t stop the slide. A recent telecast was 23 percent below the audience figures over a game last spring.

Local cable outlets, like FSN Rocky Mountain, have made baseball almost a daily menu item, while ESPN continues to increase its weekly baseball diet.

Meanwhile, competition from the 18-month-old MLB Network, which airs three live games weekly, is further diluting the Fox audience.

Reports are circulating that Fox, in an effort to increase is audience, will occasionally move into prime time.

The network’s current contract with Major League Baseball, which includes the World Series and one League Championship Series, expires in three years.

That expiration could signal the end of network baseball coverage, which began in the late 1940s — TV’s stone age era.

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You think Colorado's problems are bad through the first quarter of the season? Just be happy the Rockies aren't totally emulating the Diamondbacks, the major league's coldest club that has lost 13 of its last 14 games.